The buzzword for Internet Information Services 8 modularized installation process is slim and efficient.
The modular setup is made up of more than 40 separate role services and
features allowing for complete customization when deploying IIS 8. This
typically results in minimal surface area and more granularity compared
with legacy editions of IIS. In addition, patching is also based on a
component level, reducing the frequency of patching and overall
patching time required to keep the system updated and secure. All of
this translates to a customized footprint for each organization running
IIS 8.
As illustrated in Figure 1,
the modules that can be selected during the installation process of the
Web Server (IIS) role are organized in the following categories:
• Management Tools
• Web Server
• FTP Server
Figure 1. Reviewing the role services and feature installation options.
The following subsections cover these modular role services.
Management Tools Modular/Role Service
The first role service set associated with
the Web Server (IIS) role installation is Management Tools. The
management tools enable you to manage and administer the IIS 8
infrastructure. The following management tools are available for
installation:
• IIS Management Console—If
selected, the IIS Management Console role service installs the latest
User Interface tool for managing, administering, monitoring, and
securing IIS 8. The tool has been much improved and provides support
for both IIS and ASP.NET.
• IIS 6 Management Compatibility—This
set of role services provides the tools for backward compatibility when
managing an IIS 6.0 infrastructure from a Windows Server 2012 system
running IIS 8. In addition, it lets IIS 6.0 management scripts run on
IIS 8, provides Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) compatibility
with IIS 6.0, and enables metabase compatibility.
• IIS Management Scripts and Tools—It
is possible to manage all the IIS settings and configurations based on
automated script commands. This feature provides the infrastructure
that allows IIS to be managed by scripts. This is great when you need
to manage many IIS 8 servers within an infrastructure. Note that much
of the functionality provided by these tools is also available with the
IIS PowerShell provider.
• Management Service—This feature provides the foundation within the IIS 8 infrastructure for remote management.
Web Server Modular/Role Service
The Web Server modular is the main service
role within IIS 8. It can be considered the chief functionality for a
web server because it provides the foundation for supporting websites
and provides developers with a foundation for development. The Web
Server role is further broken down into more types of features, which
can be independently installed, which promotes further customization of
the installation:
• Common HTTP Features—A
set of role services that allow for static content to be delivered, the
creation of customized HTTP errors, directory browsing, and selection
of default documents are enabled by default. The HTTP Redirection and
WebDAV publishing features are disabled by default.
• Health and Diagnostics—Select
this feature to install the tools associated with monitoring, managing,
and troubleshooting an IIS installation. The independent role services
include HTTP Logging, Custom Logging, Logging Tools, Request Monitor,
Tracing, and ODBC Logging.
• Performance—Performance
role services supporting compression for either static or dynamic
content are available in this section. Static Content Compression and
Dynamic Content Compression bolster website performance by managing
bandwidth and compression.
• Security—The
Security role services includes security features for controlling
website authorization based on a variety of authentication mechanisms
and certificate-based solutions. In addition, it provides the
infrastructure for securing IIS and the websites associated with the
installation. The features that can be selected include Basic
Authentication, Windows Authentication, Digest Authentication, Client
Certificate Mapping Authentication, IIS Client Certificate Mapping
Authentications, URL Authorization, Centralized SSL Certificate
Support, Request Filtering, and IP and Domain Restrictions.
• Application Development—This
role service set is not enabled by default during the installation. If
selected, the Application Development role service makes available
features for creating and hosting web applications. These features
include ASP.NET 3.5/4.5, .NET Extensibility 3.5/4.5, Application
Initialization, ASP, CGI, ISAPI Extensions, ISAPI Filters, WebSocket
Protocol, and Server-Side Includes.
FTP Server Modular/Role Service
The last role service section is known as the
FTP Server. It provides a reliable method for making files available
for download and also offers a reliable place for users to upload files
if needed. The two FTP features that can be installed are as follows:
• FTP Service—The FTP Service feature provides the infrastructure for creating and hosting FTP sites within IIS.
• FTP Extensibility—This features enables support for custom providers and ASP.NET/IIS Manager users.
IIS Hostable Web Core Role Service—The
last role service enables you (an administrator) to write custom code
that will host core IIS functionality in your own application. The use
of hostable web core (HWC) requires that IIS 8 be installed but uses a
separate configuration file and only supports a single application pool
and a single web site. Because HWC is embedded within an application,
it does not integrate with IIS monitoring and process recovery
features. Application developers are expected to write those features
into their applications if needed.
